Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a blistering attack on Australian PM Anthony Albanese after he canceled the visa of an Israeli lawmaker, branding him “a weak politician” who had “betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called the decision “shameful,” accusing Albanese of fueling antisemitism by banning elected Israeli officials from the country.
The uproar followed Australia’s last-minute cancellation of Rothman’s planned visit to Jewish communities, accompanied by a three-year entry ban. Canberra’s Home Affairs Ministry defended the move, claiming Rothman would spread “a message of hate and division.”
In retaliation, Sa’ar revoked visas for Australian representatives to the Palestinian Authority. Israel’s government said the decision is part of a broader pattern of hostility from Canberra, noting that pro-Israel influencer Hillel Fuld and former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked were also denied entry in recent months.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong responded that Israel’s reaction “isolates the Netanyahu government” and undermines international peace efforts, pointing to Australia’s recent recognition of a Palestinian state.
The clash comes against the backdrop of soaring antisemitism in Australia. A 2025 J7 report documented a fourfold increase in antisemitic incidents in 2024, the steepest rise among English-speaking nations. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry similarly recorded a 316% spike in incidents in the year following Hamas’s October 2023 attacks.
Despite these figures, the Australian government insists the visa decision was rooted in security and social cohesion. Wong stressed that Australia “will always take decisive action against antisemitism,” while Jewish advocacy groups accused her government of doing the opposite.
Rothman, a member of the Religious Zionism party, blasted the decision as appeasement of terror, arguing that his positions—condemning Hamas and opposing Palestinian statehood—reflect the consensus of the Israeli parliament. He maintained that the visa ban was not merely an attack on him personally but on the State of Israel itself.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
2 Responses
This is what happens for extradition of an honorable בת-ישראל :- Malka Liefer to Australia 🇦🇺. מסירה לעכום is such a horrifying עבירה and all to curry favor with Australia, & now we see how repugnant act of throwing Malka out of Israel is having Australia respond with unbelievable repugnance to Israel.
The Zionists have been the greatest cause of antisemitism for over a century (yes, including during the Holocaust). The Zionist cares only about Zionism, of course, and not antisemitism. If his “State” did care at all about antisemitism, then they would stop lying to the world claiming to represent Jews.